A WHITE GULL'S CALLING
by ladyofbree
Summary: Inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's poem The Sea Bell Late one evening Samwise Gamgee hears something that he has not heard in well over sixy years... the call of a gull from the Grey Havens.


_Before reading this story, please take a momentand read Tolkien's poem THE SEA BELL, which inspired this short tale. Reading this poem will give a better understanding to the events which will unfold. The poem can be found through links provided on my homepage or by doing a quick search through Google._

**A WHITE GULL'S CALLING**

The hours had grown long indeed as a soft warm glow began to fill the sitting room of Bag End. A silhouette formed, an arm extending forward holding but a small tin cup containing a fragment of wax alight with fire. A deep sigh overpowered the sound of falling rain beyond the closed shutters and a face turned away from the smoldering ashes of the fireplace, meeting with a tender smile of a hobbit lass.

"Father, the hour is late. Why are you still lingering about?" The lass replied, placing the tin cup she held on a table nearby. "Come now, take rest and sit here while I tend to the fire." A pair of hands then fell upon the shoulders of the older hobbit, his walk unsteady as he was led to a wooden rocker nestled close to the hearth. He smiled as a pair of soft green eyes met his own while a hand turned away the long grey curls that covered his brow. He sat and a blanket was placed over his lap before a kiss fell upon his cheek.

"Dear Sam-dad this is the third night I have found you away from your bed. Tell me what stirs you so that you can only find comfort here next to the fire?"

"The morrow will bring with it the birthday of Master Frodo, Elanor my dear." Sam replied softly, his breath almost visible in the chill air that had begun to fill his smial. "I find my mind often wandering, with thoughts of him. Even more so on this eve."

"Aye." Elanor replied. "The day came quickly for the significance of the coming morn escaped me. How long father since that day did pass? When he sailed away?"

"Over sixty long years my fair daughter." Sam said with a sigh while turning his gaze to the closed shutters. "There are nights when it seems as though I can hear him near. His voice in the garden, his laughter in the halls. Silly is it not to imagine such things?"

"Nay." Elanor said as she gestured a smile while kneeling beside the fireplace next to her father's feet. She took a log away from the floor, placing it into the fireplace, stirring the glowing ashes within. In no time at all a fire was burning once more. Elanor then stood to her feet, resting her hand on her father's shoulder, giving him a gentle squeeze. "It is not silly Sam-dad. There are times it seems when I still can hear mother in the kitchen when I come to visit and three long months have passed since she was last here. Those memories will always be with us, though at times they seem to be more real than naught. Rest now and I shall brew some tea. Perhaps come herbs within will help you sleep."

"Perhaps." Sam whispered to himself, his eyes still focused on the shuttered window as Elanor left his side. He listened to the sound of her feet on the floor, the skirts of her nightshirt rustling with each step. A warm glow fell into the hall from the candlelight now shining in the kitchen as Elanor made ready a pot and a cup of tea leaves. Sam closed his eyes and a soft call from beyond the closed shutters caught his ears. Sam opened his eyes, standing to his feet, slowly making his way to the window. He put his hand on the wooden shutters, turning aside the latch before gently nudging them open. Small lights shone across the hills and valley from the many smials across Hobbiton. A thin moon peeked between the clouds as rain continued to pour down from the sky. Again the call, more distinct, seemingly carried on the passing breeze.

"Father!" A stern voice cried, "Come away from there or you'll catch a chill. I did not come hither to tend to sickness too!" Sam then came away from the window, once again sitting in his chair as Elanor passed him by, roughly closing the shutters.

"What now has caught your attention in the rain this eve?" Elanor said crossly, coming back to the fire, setting a kettle on the hook above the rising flames.

"I heard something." Sam sighed, "Something familiar, a sound I've not heard in over sixty years."

"And what may be this sound father dear?" Elanor replied while dropping a few tea leaves into the warming water of the kettle."

"Nay, my mind is only playing tricks on me. Longing for things that in so long I have not seen. Pay me no mind; my age is showing. It was nothing my dear."

"Come now, say what you will." Elanor said with a smile. "I will not think less of you be it a trick of your mind or not. Talk with me Sam-dad. What did you hear?"

"It was a gull." Sam replied softly, his voice growing quiet near the end. "A white gull, the sea birds as they call them that circle round the Grey Havens following the ships as they sail away. What would bring one hither I do not know, for the sea is miles to the west."

"One could easily loose its way." Elanor said with reassurance while checking the tea as it bubbled above the fire. "Yet in all my time at the Tower Hills, I have yet to see one so far inland. Many years has it been since even I have set my eyes upon a gull. Are you sure the call was that of a gull father. Few even are the feathered beasts that reside among these hills that have not begun to leave with the coming cold months ahead."

"As I said, merely a trick on my mind. Perhaps I have fallen to an eerie fire of the brain such as Lord Denethor, or so as Master Peregrin told me in his many tales of his stay in Minis Tirith."

Elanor laughed as she took the kettle away from the fire, pouring the contents within into two ceramic cups on a nearby table. She set the kettle down on the hearth and reached to a small leather pouch hanging above the mantle. She took it down and opened it, letting a bit of the dried herbs within fall into the tea.

"An eerie fire of the brain, thou do make me laugh father." Elanor said with a smile as she handed a tea cup to Sam.

"Aye, the best medicine on a night such as this." Sam remarked taking the cup into his hand. "Forgive me for worrying you so."

"You are forgiven." Elanor replied, bowing her head gently while pursing her lips to blow upon her steaming tea. Sam gestured the same, his eyes wandering away to the window once more. He then drew the cup to his lips but stopped short of taking a sip as his ears caught attention of a gulls call once more.

"There, do you hear it?" Sam mumbled, his hand trembling while his tea cup tapped against its saucer. "Again, there it is… the call, a sea bird, there outside."

"I hear nothing Sam-dad." Elanor replied while straining her ears to hear the faintest sound. "Only the rain against the shutters and the sound of the garden drain."

"Nay my fair daughter, there I hear it again!" Sam exclaimed, jumping to his feet knocking the cup of tea and saucer from his hand. It fell to the floor shattering at Elanor's feet. She stepped back; placing her cup down quickly following behind her father as he threw open the rain soaked shutters.

"Father, please. To bed with you now!" Elanor begged, pulling at her father's sleeve. I hear nothing more than the rain, please I beg of you come away from the window. The chill night air will be the death of you if you linger too long!" For a moment Sam stood in silence, listening… but the call never came again. Sam sighed and turned away his brow wet and visage pale. Elanor took his arm but Sam did not come with. Still he listened hoping, just hoping to again hear what drew him away from the fire. A faint sound then graced his ears, a light tap upon the stone garden path. Sam pulled away and turned to the round green door, its golden knob shimmering in the firelight. Sam made his way to the door and opened it slowly, his eyes scouring the walkway and road beyond the front gate. Then, there by the stones that lined the front garden path, something shone next to the garden drain. Sam came outside, the rain falling hard around him, wetting his hair and night clothes. Tears fell from Elanor's eyes as she stood in the doorway, holding her hands together before her, wishing her father would come to his senses and return to the warmth inside. Sam bent down as best he could, his aged knees not wishing to move the way they once did in his youth. He touched his fingers to the cobblestone, next to a drain which carried excess water from the flower beds. There he found a gritty substance and he closed his eyes taking in a deep breath. It was sand, glistening white, fragments of peals and jewels embedded within. And there, just a few inches away a cowry shell warm to the touch as though it had been held for some time within a tight clutching hand. Sam picked up the shell, closing his fingers over it as he drew it up to his chest. He then felt two hands upon his shoulders and Elanor's voice whisper into his ear as she pointed down the road ahead.

"Father look there; tell me that your eyes see this too!"

"Aye, my dear, I see just as you." Sam replied softly as a bent and ragged shadow faded away in the falling rain. Sam stood in silence saying nothing more as a gull called out, the sound of the sea echoing in the drops of fallen rain.

"Father, what thoughts possess you now?" Elanor said quietly. "Come speak with me. Are you ill?"

"Nay." Sam answered, making his way inside as Elanor closed the door behind him. Sam then went to his chair and sat down unfolding his hand, looking at the shell resting on his palm. He then closed his hand again as Elanor came near and he smiled taking his daughters hand in to his own.

"Elanor my dear. I shall set out for the Havens with the coming morrow."


End file.
